Pearland project a place to 'live, work and play,' developer says

Rendering of the Ivy District, planned for a Pearland site at Texas 288 and Beltway 8. It will include residential, office and retail, as well as a hotel, conference center and community building.

Rendering of the Ivy District, planned for a Pearland site at Texas 288 and Beltway 8. It will include residential, office and retail, as well as a hotel, conference center and community building.

Photo: American Modern Green

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Kevin Cole, vice president for development with American Modern Green, says the Pearland project is "vastly different than anything Pearland has now. It will be the spark for this part of Pearland to develop."

Kevin Cole, vice president for development with American Modern Green, says the Pearland project is "vastly different than anything Pearland has now. It will be the spark for this part of Pearland to develop."

Photo: American Modern Green

Pearland project a place to 'live, work and play,' developer says

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The Beijing-based developer that plans to build a $300 million mixed-use project on a site west of Texas 288 and south of Beltway 8 hopes to bring a new lifestyle to Pearland as well.

The developer put its vision on display Thursday with initial master-plan renderings that show residential and office development and a hotel and conference center.

Modern Green Development, one of the largest developers in China, chose the 48-acre site for its first U.S. project and only its second in North America. Pearland's Planning and Zoning Commission approved the project in July. It still needs approval from the City Council before it can move forward, said Kevin Cole, vice president for development with America Modern Green.

"The Ivy District will be unlike anything else," Cole said. "It will truly be a place where people can live, work and play. They will never have to leave the development. That's what we are trying to achieve."

The rendering of early stages of the project, called the Ivy District, show land for a 150-room hotel and conference center, a community center to hold local meetings and banquets, 160,000 square feet of retail space and 140,000 square feet of office space. There will be 1,150 residential units, 400 of which will be rentals. Another block will be designed as an entertainment area. About 20 acres will be left as green park space.

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The residential portion was scaled back from previous plans and new commercial space was added.

If approved, the project will be constructed in phases over a projected six to 10 years. Cole said the growth of Pearland calls for more office, retail and residential in the next five to 10 years.

"It would be Pearland's first premier modern lifestyle center," he said.

Cole said most residential projects will be condominiums priced from $200,000 to $400,000.

A similar mixed-use project was planned for that site around 2007, before it stalled during the economic downturn and the property was taken over by a bank. That project, to be called the Water Lights District, was to include a park to display 43 presidential busts by local artist David Adickes.

The targeted site is an area Pearland officials refer to as Lower Kirby, 1,200 acres of mostly undeveloped land on the western edge of Pearland facing the southern leg of Beltway 8.

Other proposed developments in the area include a technology/research campus and light manufacturing.

Already there is a Bass Pro Shop, a medical device manufacturing facility by Cardiovascular Systems and Pearland Surgery Center.

The Modern Green plan is slated to be on the Aug. 25 City Council agenda.

"We want to make Pearland a destination city and we want to make this a destination development," Cole said. "It's vastly different than anything Pearland has now. It will be the spark for this part of Pearland to develop."